Alien

Ridley Scott(1979)

Review

Our Score

by Alan Jones

This revolutionary "haunted house in space" thrill-ride is the classic business, stunning you with shock after shock, even when the fascinating monster is exposed in all its hideous glory. The creature discomfort begins when the crew of an Earth-bound spacecraft answers a distress beacon coming from a barren planet and curious crewman John Hurt picks up an unwanted guest. The top-notch acting (super-astronaut Sigourney Weaver) and imaginative bio-mechanical production design (with the alien created by Swiss artist HR Giger) succeed in flattering a script culled from many cult sci-fi movies, including It! The Terror from beyond Space and Planet of the Vampires. There's also director Ridley Scott's eye for detail and brilliant way of alternating false scares with genuine jolts, which help to create a seamless blend of gothic horror and harrowing science fiction.

Summary

Crew members of a cargo spacecraft answer a distress call from a derelict alien vessel. However, their mission of mercy has fatal repercussions when a deadly, seemingly indestructible monster gets on board their ship and starts killing them one by one. Ridley Scott's sci-fi horror, starring Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt, Ian Holm, John Hurt, Harry Dean Stanton, Yaphet Kotto and Veronica Cartwright.